More foraging...

I'm pottering along with my herbal studies. Just taking my time and enjoying it. I'm randomly doing little projects or more study into herbs that I spot out and about or ones that are ready for harvesting right now. I figure I need to harvest while I can and worry about learning about them later if I don't feel ready to study them at that time. At least if I have the dried herb on hand that's better than nothing and then will know more for next year for using the fresh herbs in tinctures etc.

Tonight after dinner we decided to go blackberry picking up a local farm track that Simon goes for bike rides with his mates sometimes. The berries in our area seem to just be coming ripe. Still a lot of small and green berries around, but we managed to come home with 1.2kg and that was after eating our fill while foraging. So I think tomorrow will be spent making some jam. The kids love adding jam to their homemade plain yoghurt. We will go back again in a week or two for another lot.

I also found some pennyroyal. I only brought home a small bit to ID and will see how I can best use it for it's insect repellent properties. We get a lot of mosquitoes around our property (probably from the bathtub and the pond since they are both still water) so I'm wondering if it's something I want to introduce and whether it will make a difference or not. (Pennyroyal is toxic if used internally and should not be used by pregnant or breastfeeding women).

(not my photo)

I also found some Self-Heal. My mum's lawn is also full of it as I discovered one day while they were on holiday and their lawns had grown long enough for the weed to flower all over it. Since it's not the time to harvest while in flower, at least I know where it is now - along with this other farm track. I find IDing while a plant is in flower is usuallly the most reliable way if there is no one with knowledge to help out.

(not my photo)

We saw several large patches of red clover so gathered a container of the flowers. I had collected some a few weeks back but unfortunately I didn't dry them enough before storing and they went mouldy. So, this is my 2nd attempt.

(not my photo)

I also saw some wild roses and wonder if I can get back there and collect the rosehips at some stage.